High School's a Killer
by Velvet Sky Moon
Summary: The guys and their new companions check out a small town in Maine where two high schoolers have been found in mysterious comas. Second story to Along the Road
1. Teaser

Disclaimer: I don't own Sam, Dean, The Impala, or anything else recognizable from Supernatural. This is purely for fun and entertainment, and nothing else is gained. It, like the first story, Along the Road, is rated M, for some language, sexual situations, and mature themes. If you haven't read the first, please do, it really is a series. This will probably make more sense and be 'better' if you know what came before it.

Note: I have 'cast' the girls, and for reference, Nic looks like Elisabeth Harnois, Alex looks like Alyson Michalka, and Kris like AJ Michalka.

Note 2: This story is currently still a work in progress. I'll be posting chapters here and there, while hopefully staying safely, several chapters ahead in the writing from the posting. And do please read and review if you can. Thanks.

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Highway 161  
Outside Caribou, Maine  
Wed, May 17, 2006, 12:03 am

Trevor was only vaguely aware of what he was doing, almost as if he was watching himself doing things, but didn't know why. Like someone else was pushing the buttons in his head or something. He pulled his car off the road, near where he'd been out a couple weeks back on a kind of camping trip. It wasn't a highly traveled area. He got out, leaving his keys in the car for some reason he couldn't figure out. Trevor felt scared, his heart was racing, he could feel all that, but yet he couldn't stop what he was doing. He heard a rustling to the bushes and felt his heart jump. Trevor looked around, but his body continued moving forward right to a large tree in a small clearing. He shivered, it was a little cool out, but the temperature wasn't really why he shivered.

"Is someone there?" Trevor found he could speak now, which he hadn't seemed to be able to make himself do before. "What's going on? Why am I here? Please, can't I just go home?" His voice sounded scared, it trembled a little along with his body.

"No, stop." Trevor jumped when he heard words coming from somewhere. He couldn't quite figure where though. The voice almost didn't seem real, it sounded far away, yet close by. Angry, but terrified.

"Is someone there?" He asked again, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. Trevor was looking around, nervous, scared when something shoved him to the ground, like he'd been pushed down by someone. He even felt something push against his chest, but he saw nothing there. "Help!"

"You didn't help her, why should I help you?" That voice, kind of dark, far away, yet close.

Trevor felt like someone was practically on top of him. "What?" His heart was racing faster than he'd ever recalled, even when he was playing sports or running. He felt his breath shorten and everything felt blurry, like things were spinning. The already dark woods seemed to get darker, he felt something tight around his wrists now, but couldn't seem to see that far, he couldn't see anything, everything went dark.


	2. Prelude

Highway 161, Outside Caribou, Maine  
Wed, May 17, 2006, 8:15 am

The police pulled up after receiving a strange cell phone call from a traveler who had pulled off the road to apparently relieve himself behind a couple trees, and discovered a body. The sheriff and his deputy ran down to find the Mayor's 16 year old son, Trevor, unconscious and tied to a tree.

"Oh my god, Sanders. How are we going to tell Mayor Collins?" The Sheriff pulled off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. This was the second one. The first had been two days ago, and was the daughter of another of the town's more prominent families.

The deputy, Sanders, checked for a pulse and breathing, they were very faint but there, just like with the girl. "He's got a pulse, and breathing. But he's unconscious." They both looked when they heard the ambulance arrive.

"I'll call the Mayor, you check the scene out, look for tracks, footprints, anything." He shook his head, trying to make sense of it. But he was still completely baffled. If this was anything like the last one, there wouldn't be any tracks other than that of Trevor Collins, and there would be no prints on the boy's body or the rope or anything else.


	3. Chapter 1

Highway 1 in Maine  
Mon, May 22, 2006, 7:45 pm

Alex was sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala, sort of staring at Dean while he was driving. Kris was in the back seat, looking out the window. She'd been quiet for most of the drive. They'd been on the road for the last two days straight, with stops only for gas, bathrooms, and restocking snacks. The lead they'd checked out on their way out of Nevada turned up nothing and they heard about this new case. A second occurrence of a teen found in a deep coma tied to a tree, in the woods. There were a few things that had made it seem like their sort of case, so they drove the last two days, straight through to Maine. Things like the lack of any physical evidence of anyone doing anything to the kid. Also, there was a local ghost story about some woodsman who died out there sometime around the founding of the nation who haunted the area. Scaring, hurting, and even killing one person who ventured along the wrong path at the wrong time. But there was little real evidence of the ghost also, so they were going to check into it for themselves.

"What? Why are you staring at me?" Dean glanced at Alex, she was starting to creep him out a little, just staring at him.

"No reason, just wondering when we'll be there. I'm gonna need to pee soon." Alex chewed her gum with a little smile on her face.

"Soon, I promise, just quit staring at me like that. It's very unsettling." Dean said glancing between the road and Alex. He liked the girl, but she was definitely a strange one. She was kind of a freak like him, though.

Kris glanced over the seats at Dean and her sister, looking a bit curiously at them both. Her sister did have a tenancy to ask odd questions or just stare sometimes, and Dean wasn't the first to be unnerved by it.

"Okay. Why is it unsettling?" Alex looked out the window and asked him her question.

"It's just weird, people don't just stare at each other like that. Makes the person feel like there's something wrong, or they've got something growing out of their head." Dean sort of rolled his eyes, then smirked after a moment. He had to finally succumb to the amusement that was Alex though. Her strangeness was oddly amusing in a way.

"Sorry, just bored is all." Alex shrugged, having returned to her usual odd self after leaving Tonopah. She turned up the radio and leaned back and stuck her arm out the window. The air was very cool, almost cold even, but it didn't seem to bother her right now.

Dean glanced at her and shook his head with a little smile. Kris, meanwhile, pulled her sweater a little tighter around herself, the cold definitely felt cold to her. But she didn't say anything to her sister.


	4. Chapter 2

Caribou, Maine  
Crown Park Inn  
Mon, May 22, 2006, 9pm

Sam pulled into the parking lot of the motel right behind Dean. He'd taken over driving Nic's Chevelle while she took a nap in the back seat. She'd been driving for about 15 hours before that, so she'd earned a rest. As they pulled in he glanced in the rear view and noticed her sitting up and stretching. He'd noticed in the last two days on the road, that Nic seemed to have this amazing knack for waking up from naps in the car right when the car was arriving at a stop. "Hey. Just in time to get a real bed to sleep in."

"Figures." Nic smirked and giggled a little as Sam pulled in next to the Impala. She climbed from the back seat to the front once the car stopped moving. Sam just sort of sat a moment and watched her maneuver herself from the back to front, and smiled. She was rather flexible from what he could tell. They both got out and he tossed her the keys.

"I'll go check us in." Sam started heading for the office as Dean, Kris, and Alex got out of the Impala.

Alex got out and walked over to the back of the Chevelle where Nic was pulling out bags. Alex picked her few up and looked at her sister, "so, am I like seriously never going to get to drive your car?" Two days and Alex hadn't been allowed to drive once. Even when everyone was dead tired and Sam and Nic had been driving for 9 hours. Dean took over driving his car, after swapping with Sam, and so Nic had wound up driving another 6 hours because she didn't want to let Alex touch her car again yet.

Kris was too sleepy to take the wheel at the time. Plus, she had very little driving experience, and usually Kris got herself nervous behind the wheel. She couldn't seem to drive more than maybe an hour at a time before she got uneasy and asked one of her sisters to take over. She glanced between her sisters as she picked up her own bags.

"I let you drive it in Tonopah." Nic closed the trunk after getting out all her stuff and set the bags down.

"Woohoo, a whole four blocks from the gas station to the motel." Alex spun her finger in that sarcastic 'yippee' way.

"Maybe next time." Nic said, mostly ignoring the attitude Alex was giving her. Sam came back with keys to room 19, which was not far from where they parked. Nic picked up her stuff and followed Sam to the motel door after he grabbed up a bag Dean had dropped on the ground for him.

The room looked not unlike the last motel they stayed in. Two queen beds, night stand, lamps, dresser with a TV, table and a couple chairs. Plus a bathroom, and this motel happened to have a small closet as well, which the other didn't. The room seemed a little bigger, the beds were, this time, on the wall running straight down from the entry door, and the bathroom placement was different. All in all, they'd all decided cheap motels were cheap motels, no matter where they went, pretty much.

Alex dropped her stuff next to the wall and then headed straight for the bathroom. Dean likewise dropped his stuff and then dropped back on the nearest bed. "A real mattress. Oh how I love thee."

Sam rolled his eyes in an amused way at his brother and put his stuff over by the table. Kris set her things down next to Alex's and moved to sit on the other bed. Nic laughed and closed the door before dumping her bags where they were out of the way, next to the dresser. She noticed Dean had closed his eyes for a moment, so she hopped, literally, onto the edge of the bed, making it bounce. His eyes popped open and Nic laughed.

"Oh, oh, you think that's funny?" Dean sat up a little and grabbed her pulling her back further onto the bed and then letting his finger tips flutter on her hips.

Nic half yelped, and then giggled some more trying to bat at his hands. He'd somehow managed to stumble onto her ticklish spot and was now exploiting it. "No, ah! Dean! Quit it." She kept laughing and trying to grab his hands to stop him, but he was determined to make her sorry for disturbing his moment. Plus it was just too much fun watching her wiggle, giggle, and try not to scream.

"Nope, I'm teaching you a lesson, Blondie." He paused a moment to catch her gaze when he spoke. He also managed to get hold of her wrists in one hand and was straddling her hips. She was mostly helpless, and then he tickled her again with his free hand.

"Dean! Please." Nic continued wiggling, and was actually proving for him, challenging to keep both her hands restrained with one of his. Of course, he also wasn't really exerting all his force on her, he was just messing with her. Though perhaps she wasn't as annoyed as she pretended to be and wasn't actually trying that hard to make him stop either. She continued to smile and giggle, which was why Sam didn't really step in to do anything. Kris sat watching and kind of giggling too, she didn't think it was a big deal. Nic actually seemed to be enjoying herself.

Alex came out of the bathroom and flopped down on the bed with Kris and glanced over at Dean tickling her sister. Sam went into the bathroom next since Dean and Nic looked busy still and Kris seemed to be occupied watching them. "She's even more ticklish a little lower. Just below her belt line. Especially her hips." Alex offered up information she knew would annoy and torment her sister.

"Alex! Traitor!" Nic gave her sister a sort of dirty look and Alex stuck her tongue out at her. Nic didn't get a chance to respond to that since Dean had slid a couple fingers into the top of her jeans. Just their slide to her hips tickled like crazy, but when his fingers brushed lightly on her hip she really wiggled and actually made a sort of squeaking noise.

Dean laughed now, enjoying this, "thanks." He smiled at Alex as he saw her smiling at him. She seemed to be having fun watching her sister tickled mercilessly. Kris was giggling pretty constantly now, thinking it kind of looked like fun, she hadn't been tickled in ages, personally.

Nic caught Dean a little distracted and pushed him off her and sat up. Dean rolled over onto his back on the bed, still laughing a little. "So, did you find anything else, Alex?"

Whoever wasn't driving and didn't need sleep got to do research in the car. Thus Alex had done a lot of it. "Not really. Two teens, friends apparently from news accounts. Both from good upstanding families in town. The second, the guy, is the son of the town mayor, while the girl's father deals in real estate. Both were described by friends as happy, popular, outgoing. Discovered tied to the same exact tree about 30 yards from the road a little ways outside town. I found an odd report from a couple weeks ago about another teen who was found at the same site in the woods, dehydrated, starving, pretty well battered and disoriented."

"Is that one in a coma too?" Dean looked over at Alex laying on the other bed.

"It didn't say. Didn't sound like it though. It was just a brief news blurb. And she's not mentioned by name, just as a girl, nor is the incident mentioned in the subsequent stories. Unlike the coma girl, who is mentioned in the story about the guy." Alex grabbed for the TV remote and flipped it on and started surfing channels with the volume pretty low.

"Well, that would be something to look into. I mean, the whole in a coma, tied to a tree thing is pretty weird. Especially since it seemed like the cops had no clues. But to have had a slightly different event, but involving another teen in the same area of woods just weeks before, seems a little more than coincidence." Nic glanced between her sisters and Dean as she sat on the bed.

"Does any of it line up with what's known about this ghost that supposedly haunts the area?" Dean was trying to figure how it all fit together, aside from it all just being weird.

"We aren't sure. The details of the ghost story are hard to find online. It's all vague stories with kind of blurry details." Kris actually spoke this time, since she'd done some of that searching.

Nic leaned back, holding herself up with her hands resting behind her on the bed. Dean wiggled his finger at the small of Nic's back. Her shirt had pulled up just bit and he got skin contact. Nic turned to look at him, figuring he wanted something, or was just bored. The latter seemed to be it.

Dean looked at Nic, continuing to finger her back sort of aimlessly. He wasn't really sure what he was doing right now. He'd been driving without stopping for the past 5 hours, he was a little tired, and his mind was definitely a little shut down at the moment. Her skin was soft, and she didn't seem to protest the touch, and Dean had to admit, at least to himself, that a little soft female skin was soothing. "Sorry." Though he didn't stop, and she just smiled at him. He slid his hand to her side and tugged a little. She thankfully got what he wanted and he didn't have to actually ask, because he probably wouldn't have. Nic laid back next to him, paying no apparent mind to personal space, which was also what he'd hoped. His arm lay now caught under her body, and he felt her hair tickling his neck. But he liked it. Two days on the road and somehow her hair still smelled a bit like her citrus shampoo, at least it did to him. It was then that he wondered if he might smell all sweaty to her.

Nic turned her head to look at Dean and found him already looking at her. If she noticed the sweat smell on him, she didn't seem to care, she stayed where she'd laid down, her chin touched his shoulder when she turned her head. "So, tomorrow morning, where should we start? Poke around the families, or try and find out more about this other teen in the woods?" She was curious about the unidentified teen girl. And where she was now.

"I could slip onto the high school campus tomorrow and see if I can hear anything, find anything from the students." Alex suggested, being just a year out of high school, it would be pretty easy for her to get lost in the crowd there at lunch time, or something like that, and see what she could hear around school. It would probably still be pretty fresh in people's minds, and being talked about around campus. She might not even have to actually speak to anyone. Just bring a sandwich and sit down in ear shot of the right people.

"That's not a bad idea." Dean made a sort of 'not bad thinking' kind of face and smiled. Sam came out of the bathroom and glanced at everyone sprawled out on the beds.

"You guys, you know, technically, it's only like nine. And I gotta say, there is no way in hell I'm sleeping yet." Sam sat down on the end of the bed Alex and Kris were on. Alex was laying on her side and Kris sat on the far side. Sam smiled at the girls and looked at everyone.

"Oh I'm not sleeping anytime soon." Nic looked over at Sam, "I just napped for like two hours. I'm probably awake till like one am at least now."

"Hey, Sammy, you and me can take a shot tomorrow at talking to one or both of the families of the kids in the comas. Alex is gonna check out the high school, so we can take a shot at the parents. Maybe reporters or something official." Dean was still slowly pondering the plan. He was a little mentally drained from all the driving. But he knew if he gave his head a little time to clear and relax it would come to him, it usually did.

"What are Kris and Nic doing?" Sam noticed they seemed to be missing from the great plan.

"Well, I could start in on the research. I could park near the school, and bring the laptop or something. Research while waiting to be Alex's get away driver." Nic smirked and Alex snickered. "Or I could swing by the hospital and see what I can find there."

"That could work." Dean smiled as he noticed that when he looked over toward Sam he got a very nice angled view on Nic's chest.

"And Kris could even come along with me, might be a big campus, we could pick different areas at lunch time and see what we hear." Alex knew Kris probably wasn't bold enough to actually jump into a conversation or ask too many questions. But she might find something useful just by listening in.

"I could do that." Kris nodded lightly, not sure what other way she could help, so she'd go with what she could.

Sam caught what had made his brother smile and rolled his eyes at him. Although over the course of the last few days Sam was realizing Nic didn't seem to mind Dean teasing her a little and being a tad crude. She seemed to just laugh and tease him back, so Sam had mellowed on chastising his brother for being, well, himself around the girls. "I guess that works for me then." Sam shrugged and gave into the crowd and flopped back on the bed. When he did he felt Alex's hand tussle his hair and then heard her giggle. He tilted his head to look at her and she was grinning at him like she'd just pulled something on him. She seemed though to just be pleased with herself for being goofy.

Dean couldn't help but laugh at Alex ruffling Sam's hair. He also couldn't help but think had it not been some cute girl, Sam probably would have smacked someone for doing that. His brother might have been a nice guy, but he wasn't a complete push over either.

"So if no one's ready for bed yet, what should we be doing now? Maybe I should start researching now." Nic made a move to sit up, but was quickly halted by Dean's arm locking onto her body.

"We're relaxing a moment before we think of anything else." Dean pulled her back down and when she relaxed again next to him he looked up at the ceiling and very easily found his mind sort of zoning out.

They all laid there for a while till the sleepiness set in for Alex and she nodded off. Kris, Dean, and Nic each took their turns in the bathroom and Dean settled in now feeling ready to sleep, next to Alex. Sam flipped channels and watched TV with Kris on the other bed, he was leaned back against the wall, while Kris sat at the foot of the bed cross legged. Meanwhile Nic sat at the table apparently poking around online for anything else.


	5. Chapter 3

Delaney's Delights  
Tues, May 23, 2006, 11:15 am

Sam walked into the bakery owned by the Mayor's wife, also the mother of the young man, Trevor, who was still in a coma. He noticed the woman behind the counter looked sad, and a bit far away.

"Are you alright?" Sam looked at the woman with concern. Nothing fake about it either, he was honestly concerned.

"Sorry," She looked up at him and tried to smile, "just, you know."

"I heard around town about those teenagers. Everyone seems in a bit of shock." Sam hoped to ease into it, not jump right at her with questions.

"Yeah, the most recent is my son. Everyone's terrified who might be next. Are you new, or just passing through?" The woman was very easy to open up, but then Sam had one of those honest faces people just seemed to trust and open up to.

"Passing through. That's terrible. How's he doing? Have the doctors given you any idea what's happening?" Sam had picked up the local paper earlier and it was still talking about the kids and the families and that the doctors wouldn't say anything to the press about what was happening.

"He's still breathing, but hasn't woken up. The doctors won't tell us much. I think they don't really have any idea what's happened. They keep saying not to give up hope, but I can see in their eyes they have no idea. And my husband won't even talk to me or anyone about it. He keeps trying to pretend like nothing serious has happened to our family." The frustration and sorrow were clear in her voice. Like she'd been keeping these things inside for days.

If he had to, Sam had been prepared to pretend to be a reporter, but it seemed that might be unneeded. "Some people need more time to deal with things, and they have different ways of trying to manage their pain. I mean, some people in your place wouldn't be able to be back at work in just a few days."

She nodded, "I just couldn't take it sitting at the hospital any longer. It was so depressing and defeating. I thought work might keep me busy. And I might see some friendly faces here. By the way, I'm Anne." She extended her hand over the counter. Despite the tear stains and the tired look, she still was pretty, and seemed youngish to have a teen aged son. "I'm sorry, was there something you actually came in for?" She realized she was being a terrible worker right now.

"Sam. And that's quite alright. Sometimes you just have to vent your pain. I don't mind. I came in for a muffin and some coffee if you've got it." Sam shook her hand and then pointed at the blueberry muffins and gave her a smile.

Anne smiled a touch, and nodded, "sure thing. And thank you, Sam."

Sam smiled again, his dimples showing a touch now. Anne handed him a muffin on a plate and a cup of coffee. He pulled out his wallet, but Anne waved a hand.

"No charge, consider it a thank you for listening." When he tried to hand her some cash she held up her hands and refused.

"Alright, well, is there anything else I can do for you?" Sam genuinely liked this woman, she seemed kind, and honest.

"Would you mind if I just joined you?" Anne poured herself a cup of tea when Sam nodded and they sat at a table near the counter.

"Did you want to talk, or just sit? Or did you want me to try and think of a funny story or something?" Sam offered up the various options.

Anne shrugged and shook her head. "Everyone's been treating me like some china doll who might break at any moment. Maybe I am. But no one seems to be able to just be around me, like I or my situation make them uncomfortable or somehow they might be the next one. Even Ken Aster doesn't want to talk."

"Ken Aster?" Sam blew on the coffee and took a sip, he knew who that was, but he figured he shouldn't seem to.

"The father of Kaylin, the girl who was the first one. She's a friend of my son's." Anne spun the mug with her hand and sort of stared into the liquid for a long moment.

"Ah, can I ask how your son seemed last time you saw him? I mean, was he like he always was, or were there any signs he thought maybe something was going on, beyond that his friend was in a coma?" Sam hoped the question wouldn't seem too odd.

"He was heading out the evening before to hang out with some friends. They were having a get together, I guess to talk about Kaylin. His friends said he left about 10, and seemed like he planned to get something to eat and clear his head, before heading home. He seemed okay other than being sad. I suppose maybe he wanted to drive out to where they found her. Now the town is scared there's some kind of psychopath lurking out in the woods." She finally took a sip from her tea and closed her eyes for a long moment.

"I suppose that's a reasonable worry. Especially since there doesn't seem to be a lot of information being released to the public." Sam decided not to bring up the unnamed teen girl from a couple weeks earlier, unless Anne mentioned it. He'd hope that perhaps one of the others would get a lead on her identity and if there was any connection to what was going on now.

"I guess so. I guess, I just hope that, maybe, Trevor will be the second and last. I know a lot of the people in this town, and I don't want to see it happen to anyone else." Anne shook her head, looking concerned and sad.

Sam ate while Anne talked and then washed it down with some coffee, "well, are the police patrolling that area now?"

"They are, but our police force is small. They can only manage to pass by out there every couple hours. They are warning everyone to stay off that road and that area. And for parents not to let their kids go out anywhere alone after dark. But there's only so much we can control I think. Some of the kids are scared, some are just mad, others don't even seem concerned." Anne shook her head seeming confused in general.

They talked a little while longer while Sam finished his muffin and coffee, Anne mostly spoke of her son being popular, well liked, and athletic, in good health. She was confused as to why the doctors seemed to have no explanations for his coma. She excused herself when another customer entered and waved to Sam as he left. Letting him know he was welcome to come again. Sam had smiled and left, after managing to slip a little tip into the jar without her notice, or at least without her protest.


	6. Chapter 4

The Aster Home  
Tues, May 23, 2006, 11:30 am

Dean had dropped Sam near downtown to check out the shop owned by the Mayor's wife. Meantime Dean was going to see if he could manage to get anything of use from the father of the girl, Kaylin Aster, who'd been found in the same state as the Mayor's son just two days before that one. He was planning to say he was a reporter from a newspaper, Maine Today. He walked up and knocked. It took a moment but a man answered.

"Yeah?" The man looked tired, like he hadn't slept much, and his eyes were a bit vacant.

"Hey, I'm Joe Perry with Maine Today. We were thinking of running a story on what's happened here with the kids, and wondered if you might be willing to answer a few questions we had about Kaylin Aster. Are you her father?" Dean put on his best polite and professional sort of voice and tried to smile slightly, but only slightly. He was trying to seem friendly, but serious at the same time.

"Sure, why not?" The guy seemed a bit worn, but agreed simply enough. However, he made no move to invite Dean in. Ken Aster remained leaning in his doorway. Dean didn't seem too concerned, he hoped this would be fast, so he decided not to push and just ask the questions at the door.

"Okay, do you know what your daughter's plans had been that day?" Dean had come up with a few questions that would best help them confirm information, and hopefully lead to new ideas.

"She'd had school, came home, it was a Friday night. She and some friends were going out to eat and hang out at one of their houses. Her friends said she left around 11 to head home. Her curfew was 11:30. She was always very good about coming home on time, or phoning me if she'd be late. By midnight I was worried, called her cell, got no answer. Called her friends, they said she'd left an hour before. Finally I called the police. They didn't find her till the next morning." The man seemed on the verge of tears, but kept himself in check, though Dean noticed his fist ball up, looking frustrated.

"Do the police have any theories, or the doctors? We noticed your local paper said she and the young man from a few days ago were in comas." Dean pressed on, feeling a little badly for the guy. He tried not to be too pushy or overly aggressive sounding in his questions.

"There's theories all over. Some think it's some psycho. Others think this girl from the school, who's a real nut job herself, is involved. She claimed a couple weeks ago that Kaylin and a bunch of her friends ditched her in the woods or something. But I don't believe Kaylin and her friends could have done that. They're good kids. Kaylin is sweet, responsible, and has a lot of friends. This girl is just jealous, she's poor, an outcast. Although I don't know if she has the means to do this." He shook his head, confused. "The doctors don't have any answers, or even ideas. They just keep saying they are running tests, and hoping for the best."

"I'm sorry. Any idea who this girl is? A name?" Dean wondered if the guy knew anything, or could say.

"The local paper didn't say, and I never heard. I just know she lives across town. The houses aren't quite as nice over there, few trailer parks and such." Ken Aster shrugged and looked tense. "I'm sorry, that's all the questions I can answer. That's all I really know anyway."

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Thanks." Dean decided not to push it. The guy still had his hand in a fist, and Dean didn't really care for this guy to finally decide to unleash his frustrations on his face. The guy closed the door and Dean headed back to his car wondering if anyone else had any better luck.


	7. Chapter 5

Caribou High School  
Tues, May 23, 2006, Lunch Time

Alex and Kris slipped onto the high school campus, unnoticed, just before lunch, and then slipped into the nearest girls' rooms until the lunch bell rang. Alex had taken the bathroom closer to the quad, while Kris slipped into one in the corridors of the school. Going on what their high school had been like, people out of class, in the halls, during class time got bothered often by administration about what they were doing. Thus they chose to hang in the bathrooms, Alex even went as far as going into a stall and locking the door so if anyone checked she was just some girl using the bathroom.

Alex hoped that Kris would be alright on her own, seeing if she could hear anything around at lunch. She, herself, was about ready to turn the lock and head through the bathroom and outside. But almost as soon as the bell rang two girls entered, talking.

"But how could she be involved Aimee? I mean they just let her out of the hospital a few days ago, right." One girl said, fishing around her purse for something.

"I don't know, but I bet she is. Some people say she was, like, into witchcraft and stuff. Like they all wear that Satanic star thing. She's a loser wannabe and she just upset that she's stupid." The girl who seemed to be Aimee spoke. Alex peeked through the cracks in the door to try and see what the girls looked like.

"So you think, like, maybe she put a hex on them or something?" The first girl said, kind of giggling.

"Yeah, right. Witchcraft? Come on, that's a bunch of crap, but it proves that family was screwed up. Like, so, I wouldn't put it past her to do some sick shit to get back at us. She did it somehow Keri, I just know it, but it wasn't something stupid like witchcraft. She's just upset about what we did to her. She needs to just grow up and get over it, it was just a prank." Aimee, the second girl said. Alex noticed Aimee was a blond and tallish. While Keri was a little shorter with light golden brown hair.

"Wasn't her sister a reject too who wound up all depressed and ODed on drugs or something?" Keri stopped disagreeing with Aimee and altered the direction of the conversation.

"Yeah, big time, she was just like her sister. My sister was a freshman at the time it happened. She was like this loner reject who ate lunch in a class room with her teacher and hung out with all those freaks who played like that Magic card game or something." Aimee confirmed, "she went to a party and ODed. Her dad tried to say she never did drugs, or anything, ever. But really, come on. Even if that was true, who the hell was going to believe that trailer trash over people like us."

Alex rolled her eyes at the sheer cruelty of the conversation, and decided if she wanted a name she'd have to play along. She knew she could look the part of the popular girl. She exited her stall with one of those little vapid fake expressions. Aimee was fixing her lip gloss in the mirror. "You guys are so right. Her whole family are loser freaks. I mean, does anyone even remember her name and it's been what, just a couple weeks? I bet she wasn't even that hurt, she probably was faking it just to try and get a bunch of attention and sympathy. But we're too smart for that crap."

The two girls glanced at Alex, though they didn't look all that curious about why they didnt know her. Probably figuring Alex must be one of those not especially popular, but not loser kids who they had classes with, though never bothered to remember their names.

Keri glanced at Aimee as if awaiting approval to speak to Alex. Aimee spoke first, "oh my god, I bet you're right. What a pathetic little piece of shit she is."

"Yeah she even has a loser name, Edith. I mean who after 1960 names their kid that? Losers." Keri chimed in, since Aimee's agreement with the unknown girl constituted an 'okay' to talk to.

"Oh god, if that were my name, I think I'd have to kill myself, or at least, you know, change my name." Alex's voice was perfectly pitched like the other two girls, with that air of self importance as she giggled at her own statement.

Aimee laughed at that as she put the lip gloss she'd just reapplied away in her purse, "seriously." She then motioned Keri she was done and to follow her. She gave Alex a little wave, Keri did the same, and they left.

Alex then decided to see about where she could look at some old yearbooks. She found them in the school library and searched them quickly for an Edith. By the time she found her, Edith Beckwith, lunch was nearly over and she needed to leave. She slipped off campus unnoticed and headed to the meet up location a few blocks from the school.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, Kris slipped out of the girls' room she'd hidden in after the bell and into the mass of students shuffling through the halls. She blended right in. She'd even brought a little bottle of water and bag of chips in her little messenger bag. At just 16, Kris actually did belong amongst the kids in high school. She was too nervous to actually talk to anyone, though she caught the two kids' names, Trevor and Kaylin, a few times. People were definitely talking about it, some kids seemed to think they were mean kids, some thought they were nice, depending on where Kris moved to sit. She sat or stood around in four or five different spots around the quad and a near by corridor that seemed to be popular for sitting and eating. The 'divisions' were familiar to her own high school, though this school was significantly smaller. Kris had a feeling that her class alone had more students in it than this whole school. But then this was a very small town. She didn't really learn anything that seemed 'significant', so when the bell rang to end lunch, she quietly slipped off campus and met up with Alex just a block from the school, and headed down the street to where someone would meet and pick them up.


	8. Chapter 6

See the first Teaser for disclaimers. But this is still just for fun, I don't own the guys or the Impala or anything cool like that. LOL I know this is a short chapter and update, but that's how it is. Please review if you read this story and like it (or mostly like it). Might help me know how to finish this one. Thanks :)

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Caribou General Hospital  
Tues, May 23, 2006, Noon time

Nic had swiped some nurse's scrubs and a couple items to make it look 'real', and found her way onto the right floor and got a look at the records and charts for Trevor Delaney and Kaylin Aster. She took digital pictures of everything and jotted a couple things down. She'd never actually gotten to go to medical school, but she'd looked into it and taken a little pre med, enough to know how to decipher the basics of a medical chart.

She read through a few notes about the doctor's theories, most of which were pretty thin. She took about an hour going through everything she could get a hold of. She wasn't sure how much it helped, but she didn't want to spend too much time. She took the images and got out. She could spend all night going over the info in the safety of the motel room. Especially after one of the real nurses looked at her a little sideways, she decided it best to end this escapade as quickly as possible.


	9. Chapter 7

See the first Teaser for disclaimers. But this is still just for fun, I don't own the guys or the Impala or anything cool like that. LOLPlease review if you read this story and like it (or mostly like it). Might help me know how to finish this one. Thanks :)

* * *

Three blocks from the high school  
Tues, May 23, 2006  
1 pm about

Alex and Kris spotted the Impala when they turned the street corner, jogged over, and hopped in the back. Sam was sitting up front with Dean. "Any word from Nic?"

Sam turned to look at Alex, "she called a few minutes ago saying she was leaving the hospital, and since we were here, she's going to meet us back at the motel."

"Cool, so, how did you guys do?" Alex leaned forward, putting her arms on the back of the front seat as Dean started the car.

"I think I connected with the guy's mom. She seemed pretty willing to share, nice woman." Sam didn't detail anything yet for two reasons, Alex's question had been general, and Nic wasn't around to hear it.

"What the hell is with that anyway, Sam? I mean how do you get people to just tell you things and make it seem like something they want to do?" Dean looked seriously at his brother. Sam just shrugged. Then Dean smirked, "it's the hurt puppy eyes, isn't it?" Kris smiled a little and giggled.

"Because he's a sweet and genuine guy. And you have an honest face." Alex sort of visually appraised Sam and smiled at him.

"Thanks," Sam smiled back, maybe a faint hint of a blush on his cheeks, "you girls find anything?"

Kris shook her head, a little blush seemed to be on her cheeks now, "just that people are definitely still talking about it around school."

"I think I found the girl who was found in the woods a couple weeks back, her name is Edith Beckwith." Alex shook her head, "I'd almost forgotten how horrible and cruel people in high school could be. Then I heard one of those queen bee sort of girls, and one of her followers, talking in the girls bathroom. Got the name, but still. Just nasty." Alex kind of made a face and cringed a little.

"Yeah, high school was kind of lame. I was always kind of a loner. The girls were okay to me, but the guys were a pain in the ass sometimes. But they laid off once they found out I could kick their asses without breaking a sweat." Dean kind of chuckled as he started driving through town back to their motel.

"High school was okay, but yeah, I never quite fit in. College was better, but even then, I never felt like I completely fit in." Sam tried to tickle Alex's arm with his finger, and she poked his hand and giggled.

"Okay, cut that out now. No playing the hand equivalent of footsie in my car." Dean said seriously, making a face as he paused at a red light. It was just a little too 'cute' for Dean to handle.

Kris was just watching it, she smiled a little, but it was one of those 'little' smiles that she made when she wasn't sure what else to do. Not one of those real, big smiles that let everyone know Kris was happy.

Sam rolled his eyes, and Alex's response was to run her fingers along Dean's shoulder and up his neck. He glanced at her and then back at the road, wondering what the hell she was doing. Not that it didn't have it's appeal. Dean pulled into the parking lot at the motel. Sam and Kris got right out. Dean was about to get out when Alex tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you just upset you're not getting any action?"

"No." Dean said, but thought, actually, 'maybe'. He'd been getting more sexually frustrated by the day. Especially after two days on the road with very little chance for a private moment to ease his troubles. Alex smiled, like she knew he wasn't telling the real truth, then she grabbed his face and kissed him. Dean was more than a little surprised, but couldn't quite bring himself to stop the action. He started to kiss her back. She was a little young, but she was a pretty damn good kisser. Sam made a face at it and went inside, already knowing Nic was there, since her car was in the lot. Kris looked a little surprised, and then quickly followed Sam inside when she noticed him make a face and go.


	10. Chapter 8

Crown Park Inn  
Tues, May 23, 2006  
1:30 pm

"Hey, Sam, Kris. Where are Alex and Dean?" Nic looked up from the computer where she was starting to transfer images. She'd only gotten back a few minutes before.

"Making out in the car." Sam pulled his shoes off and scooted onto the bed next to Nic. Kris sat down in one of the chairs at the little table.

"Making out? Are you serious?" Nic stopped paying any attention to the computer, stared at Sam, and made a little snicker of a laugh.

"Yup. Alex and I were goofing around in the car, Dean got annoyed told us to stop. So I guess to teach him some lesson she decided to kiss him. He apparently doesn't object to that though." Sam rolled his eyes again at the thought of it.

Nic shook her head, "Alex is a weird one. She doesn't always respond to things like a normal person."

"Apparently. Is there anything else to which her response is to kiss someone?" Sam was sort of joking, and sort of actually wondering if there was an answer to that question. Kris kind of scrunched her nose, listening in, though it didn't seem Sam or Nic was paying much attention to her right now.

"Depends on her mood and who the person is. But I've seen her do that a couple times before." Nic smiled and laughed a little, "why, wanting to take a shot at something? Cause you could probably just ask and she'd kiss you."

Sam laughed and was about to deny it, when he realized he really actually wouldn't mind kissing Alex, or Nic. Even Kris, she was young, but beautiful and sweet. It was then that Dean and Alex came in. Dean looked a little shocked, but happy. And Alex looked highly pleased with herself. She kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the empty bed.

"Okay, so what did everyone find?" Sam decided to get things on track. "I got that Trevor is popular, athletic, went out with friends the night before he was found. His friends said he was getting food and going home around ten, but he never got home."

"Sounds a lot like what I got from the girl's father, responsible, popular, he thought she was a good kid. She left her friend's house around 11, had a 11:30 curfew. When she didn't arrive home by midnight her father called her friends and then the cops. As she was always home by curfew or called him or whatever. Took all night to find her." Dean added what he'd gotten.

"The girl who was found a couple weeks ago, I believe it sounds like some cruel prank gone worse. The popular girl said they did something to her that made her believe the girl was behind her friends turning up in comas. But Edith Beckwith, that's the girl's name, was just released from the hospital, like a few days ago. Apparently she lives in a trailer park, and her sister was likewise an outcast while in high school. Sounds like the older sister OD ed at some party and died. The father claimed she never did drugs, but sounds like the town believed the other kids who said she did over her father." Alex recounted the important details of what she'd over heard and gotten from the girls in the bathroom.

"Yeah, Ken mentioned some girl, who he thought was jealous of Kaylin and her friends. Accused them all of ditching her in the woods, but he didn't have a name. Sounds like the same girl then." Dean wondered what exactly had happened.

They all looked at Nic while Nic looked over at Kris. Kris shook her head and Nic looked back at everyone else, "I didn't learn much other than to say I don't think the doctors have a clue what caused the comas or how to really help them."

"Okay, we start doing some digging and see what comes up." Dean finally pulled off his coat and shoes and sat down. Deciding he could do to sit down a bit.


	11. Chapter 9

Caribou Trailer Park  
Tues, May 23, 2006, 4:00 pm

Edith Beckwith sat in her sweat pants and a waffle fabric shirt. She'd spent almost the last week at home, doing nothing really, though she had some work from classes, since Pam had been bringing her things even in the hospital every couple days. Pam wasn't quite a friend, but maybe she was, Edie just felt like she didn't know how to judge a friend anymore. She'd thought Keri was being genuinely nice. Back in grade school Edie and Keri had actually been friends. But middle school brought cheerleading, dates, and parties for Keri. While Edie ate lunch under a tree near the band geeks and spent the rest of her time in the library with some of the math nerds. None of whom were really her friends, but they didn't seem to mind her hanging around, and they were nice enough company, kind of like Pam. Pam had a little group of friends, about five kids who dressed 'gothy' or 'punkish' or something. Edie wasn't really sure, some had those pentacles, but some also wore tees with old band names on them. Though black clothing and eye makeup, and 'un-natural' hair colors seemed to dominate in whatever case.

There had been a lot of time in the hospital, and at home, to think. Edie's father worked such long hours and she had no one else. Her mother had died when she was fairly young, and her older sister died a few years ago. Though Edie had always felt like her sister, Benny, hadn't really left her. She still felt like she was always nearby. She'd always 'talked' to her sister in times of need, and she'd been needing a lot since she was found in the woods.

"I don't know why I trusted them. I feel so stupid. But you remember, Keri used to be so nice. She said she missed our friendship, and I wanted to believe she meant that. But I guess she didn't. I guess she really is just like the rest of them now. They'll hurt anyone just for kicks, won't they? Is that what happened to you too?" Edie had never gotten any answers about her sister's death, aside from the official word that it was 'an OD', and then her father's belief that Benny must have taken something without knowing what it really was. Edie believed as her father did, she even wondered if it hadn't been a prank that went too far, like she'd recently fallen prey to.

Edith curled her legs up onto the couch, getting more comfortable and resting her head. "I should have taken my missing hair brush when I was packing for that overnight as a sign I shouldn't go. It would be nice if somehow all this weird stuff going on somehow taught all of them to stop hurting people. And maybe make everyone else stop letting them have the power they do. But I know none of that will probably ever happen. I'm sure fifteen years from now, the same kind of kids will be ruling the school and no one else will be able to do anything. It's like they pass it down. Dad told me they were cruel like that when he was a kid too. That he had his clothes stolen while showering after gym once. His parents had to pick him up, and he went home wearing a towel. The clothes were found that afternoon tossed all over the street outside the school. Of course that's nothing compared to what they did to the two of us." Edie sighed and looked around, and kind of hugged herself. "I really wish you were here. I know you'd have talked me out of going, and even if this still happened, you'd be there for me. Make me feel better about it all. I really miss you Benny."


	12. Chapter 10

Crown Park Inn  
Tues, May 23, 2006, 7:30 pm

They had all been in and out of the motel a few times for food, air, or just to clear their heads. And they'd all taken their turn looking online, checking local papers and looking for more information about the outcast girl and her family.

"I got something, the obits. Two of them with a matching last name. One must be the sister, one is the mother. The mother was 36, named Abigail died in 1992. The sister died three years ago, at age 15, and her name was Bernadette." Alex looked pretty tired of the search at this point. Hours and all she managed was a couple names.

"All I found on the ghost story is a report about 10 years ago of a pair of campers who were in the general area the teens were found. They were out there, saw some ghostly things, like things moving around, small items going missing and turning back up in odd places. Noises and chills that weren't typical for the area in July. The campers left after one night scared to stay the whole weekend they'd planned to. The area is traveled minimally by outdoor types, seems most don't camp in that area much. But nothing solid." Kris spoke soft, but clear and shook her head. She sighed a little and had this tired, almost sad smile.

"Even so, what could cause these kids to be slipping into comas? It isn't typical ghostly M.O." Nic still wasn't sure on the whole ghost thing, especially with the sketchy reports of some woodsman ghost or something.

"Well, there is a notion of ghost sickness, usually believed to be newly dead though. But different cultures have different ideas. Some in which Native American tribes go so far as to move homes when someone dies and the name of the dead isn't spoken to keep the living from the sickness." Sam shrugged, having been poking around trying to figure that himself. Ghosts weren't usually the cause of people in comas, but ghosts seemed to be able to do many things, depending on the spirit and it's state of mind and how it died. "There weren't a lot of details and some places seemed to have different takes on what exactly it was. But I'd say ghosts could be capable of all kinds of things, depending how they died, how angry they were, all that."

"That's true, get a ghost that's angry enough and it can find all kinds of ways to maim, kill, and otherwise torment the living." Nic kind of made a face, she still felt like there wasn't enough solid ground with this case. They knew enough that there was definitely something strange going on, but not enough to have a real theory.

"Okay, maybe it's time to kind of just get away from the research and let it all sink in." Sam looked around at everyone. He felt as spent as Alex and Kris looked and was sprawled across a whole bed. Dean was laying on the bed next to Alex looking asleep, aside from the fact he was rubbing the bridge of his nose. Kris was cross legged in one of the chairs with some photocopies of old newspaper articles and a book, she closed everything in the book and set it as far away as she could reach. And Nic was actually laying across the table, eating gummy bears and staring at the wall.

Alex turned off the computer and quickly got it off the bed and out of sight. "I'm all for no more research right now. Do we think there's something to this girl and her family?"

"Maybe." Dean turned his head and looked over at Sam and then shrugged, it was about all he could come up with at the moment. Alex went to get some gummy bears from her sister, and Nic decided to hop off the table. It was starting to put a kink in her back.

Nic moved around the room and stood between the two beds, looking at Sam and Dean. Each Winchester brother stretched out on a bed. When Alex got up Dean had stretched and taken up a little more of it. "So, uh, can a girl get a little bed space?"

Both guys actually scooted and Alex bounced over and dropped herself on the nearer to the door of the two beds, occupied by Sam. She looked up at Nic and smiled. "Hey Sam," Alex turned and smiled at him, the bag of gummy bears in hand, she wiggled one at him like it was dancing. Sam opened his mouth and Alex fed him the gummy bear.

Kris shifted in the chair, but didn't make any move to get up and join the 'party' over on the beds. She actually kind of averted her eyes and then closed them, like she was ready to just curl herself up in the chair and sleep, despite the chair not really being all that comfortable.

Nic shook her head and smiled at Alex and promptly fell onto the other bed next to Dean. "Looks like you're suck with me again." He whispered in her ear. Nic just smiled, without looking at Dean, and shifted, getting comfortable.

They were all quiet for a little while. Alex stayed sitting up, leaned against the wall alternately dropping gummy bears into her own mouth and then Sam's. When she ran out she got up to get some water and toss the bag. While she did Sam closed his eyes and tried to clear his head some more. He felt like he couldn't think straight, he was tired. Alex laid down, on her stomach, and propped herself up with her elbows so she looked down at Sam's face from above. "You were restless last night. I woke up at one point and noticed you tossing more than my sister does. Which I have to ask, do you two, like, keep each other awake in the same bed?"

Sam opened his eyes and looked at Alex, who was speaking softly enough that she was clearly only talking to him. "Yeah, I'm a little restless a lot. Not as bad as I was a couple months ago though. I don't think Nic's ever kept me awake with her shifting, and I hope I haven't kept her up."

Nic heard some of the conversation, "you haven't." She looked over, at Alex and Sam, and smiled.

"Hey, how's your chest healing?" Dean propped himself up on one arm and with the other reached over and tugged down on the neck of Nic's shirt. Mostly he was just trying to be a pain. He knew she was feeling better. They had all stopped re bandaging their wounds yesterday, and all were healing nicely. Dean's bruise was also looking a little better. The purple was starting to fade away.

"I don't know, how's yours?" Nic looked at him and smiled. She knew he was still feeling a little playful, and she tugged down on the neck of his T-shirt. They both kind of laughed.

"Are yours getting better though?" Sam looked up and asked seriously.

Nic looked over, "yeah they are. Your arm looked like it's healing nicely." Sam nodded and looked at Alex who lifted her shirt a bit to show her sister her sides and the healing puncture wounds the demon had left on both of her sides. "Kris' looks a lot better too." She'd checked on her youngest sister's wound this morning, and again while they were all researching. Nic glanced over at Kris by the table and wondered for a moment if her sister was alright, she seemed quieter than usual.

Sam was in a T-shirt, and he pulled the sleeve up to show his arm. The cuts were still very apparent, but also clearly healing. "It doesn't hurt as much either."

Alex made a little sad pouty face at Sam's arm. He'd gotten the cuts while trying to keep a hold on Alex, and keep her from the demon, and part of Alex felt bad for his getting hurt in it, even though she also got hurt. Alex laid back on her stomach and leaned in and kissed Sam's hurt arm. "I'm still hungry." Alex looked around to see if anyone else was.

Sam sat up, "come on, I could eat too." He glanced at the others, specifically at Kris. He noticed she seemed kind of removed from the group. "How about it, Kris? I'm buying."

Kris slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Sam when he spoke her name. She managed a kind of half crooked smile, "yeah, okay. My stomach is kind of rumbling." It actually had been for a while, but she'd been ignoring it. The little snacks weren't cutting it and she needed real food.

"I'm good." Nic rolled onto her side and propped her head up.

"I think my need to just lay here is overriding my need to eat more right now." Dean only turned his head, and was otherwise laid out on the bed. Usually Dean could eat at anytime, but that was how beat he felt, plus he'd been snacking all afternoon, and the warm girl next to him all combined to beat his usual desire to eat at every opportunity.

Sam, Kris, and Alex grabbed their jackets and headed out the door. Nic glanced at Dean after the door closed and he was already looking at her, "you want the bed to yourself now, don't you?" She smiled at him and started to sit up.

Dean pinched her shirt as she sat up and she glanced at him. "I wasn't going to ask that." Nic looked at him like she was expecting the 'but' to come next. "And I'm not asking now, either. You're welcome to stay here." He smiled at her, genuinely.

Nic eyed him a moment, then giggled and smiled, before laying back down with him. "Is your bruise really better?"

"I think it's looking a little better." Dean sat up and pulled his shirt off. It was still a big green blotch on his chest, but it did look better than a few days ago. Nic turned to get a good look at the bruise, then reached out to touch lightly along the edges of it. He made a slight face when her fingers pressed a little near the center of the bruise. "That's where it still hurts. And I'm kind of all achy all over. But I get by." He gave her a smile.

Nic smiled back with a tiny snicker, "I'm sure you do tough guy."

"Yeah, I do. What of it Blondie?" Dean stared at her. He had fun teasing her and seeing what kind of reaction he could get from her.

This time Nic just giggled and sat up all the way, putting her hands up at the same time in a kind of 'I surrender' way. When she did Dean hooked a finger at the bottom of her shirt and pulled up. Nic just sort of watched him and then fixed him with a sort of, 'and what do you think you're doing' kind of look.

"I showed you mine, now I want to see yours." Dean tugged up again a little.

Nic crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Dean, "and would this be because you're concerned how I'm healing or because you want a look at what bra I'm wearing today?" The slightly devious smile that played at corners of her lips was not lost on Dean.

His smile quickly matched hers and then some, "little of both, so sue me, okay?"

Nic smirked and then lifted her arms over her head. Dean smiled and pulled her shirt off and tossed it aside. Nic actually hadn't really let anyone look at her cuts since the last time Sam re-bandaged them. After that during the two days in the car she just sort of glanced at them and figured they were fine, since they didn't hurt as bad as the day before. She sat cross legged on the bed, Dean grabbed her knee and pulled her a little closer. He started looking at her back, and she craned her neck to try and see it herself, or at least try to read his expression. He touched gently with his fingertips, brushing across where the cuts were a bright red and the new skin was just starting to mend her wounds. She shifted a little when it felt a little tender, but otherwise didn't react. He moved around her a little, for perhaps a moment looking at her bra, and that bit of skin it covered, that he was more than a little curious about. But then he shifted his mind to actually take a good look at how she was healing. Nic leaned back on her hands a little and Dean did the same thing to her front as her back. Her eyes closed softly, as his fingertips just lightly brushed the wounded skin on her chest. Dean liked that look, it was hard to resist taking it further with her, but he forced himself to be 'good'.

When he finished she twisted, trying crack her back. "Sore?" Dean was watching her not get the relief she'd clearly been trying to get.

"Yeah, a bit." Nic put her hand to the back of her neck and rubbed and tried to stretch her neck out a little.

"Here, let me," Dean scooted behind her and began rubbing her neck, with a careful, but firm pressure. Her response was immediate, she moaned softly, one of those sounds that communicated that it hurt, but it was that good, tension relieving kind of pain. As his hands pressed into her skin he could feel the tension in her muscles. "You really should do something about all this tension you're carrying around." Dean spoke softly into her ear with a little smirk on his face, and watched her profile as he continued to rub her.

"Any suggestions on that?" Nic smiled, she was starting to look vaguely blissful as he gently massaged her. Letting his hands move down her back, carefully avoiding her injuries the best he could.

"A few, but most of them Sam would probably smack me for saying to you." As he rubbed and spoke, he leaned into her and his head was pretty much next to hers, he subtly glanced down at the angle this gave him on her chest.

Nic laughed slightly, "and who's tension would that really be relieving?"

"What, you don't think I'm capable of giving as well as receiving?" He kind of chuckled in her ear. And often, yes, he was out for himself. But if she ever actually consented to a little night of fun with him, he knew he'd do for her too.

"I think you can if you want to. And I'll keep your offer in mind." Nic glanced at him with a little smile.

Dean smiled a little softer, a little less cocky in the smile, and kissed her neck, then leaned back a little and turned his focus back on rubbing her so she moaned a little more. He rubbed her for a while, till it actually seemed like her muscles were starting to relax. He slid his hands down her arms and leaned into her again, "feel a little better?"

Nic nodded and sort of leaned back into him. "Yes, thank you, Dean. Did you want anything from me? Besides sex."

"Maybe a rub sometime soon." Dean smiled at the fact that she just came out and said what he'd been insinuating for sometime. "Cause, well, this job sometimes leaves some tension."

"That's putting it mildly." Nic sat up, slowly, "you want one now?" Dean nodded and they traded places. Nic put her hands on Dean's shoulders and started gently with some easy pressure to see how sore he was, and how he liked his massages. When almost right off she got one of those pleasant groans out of him, she figured she was on the right track. She went up and down his whole back slowly, occasionally going a little longer in spots where he seemed to have more tension and made more of those groaning noises.

Dean actually didn't get massages like this all that often. Sometimes for a minute or two as a prelude to, or 'cool down' after, sex. He usually relieved his tensions by picking up a girl somewhere and spending an evening at her apartment or a motel room or something. This was actually pretty nice, not that he'd completely lost the idea that having sex would have been nice too. Nic's soft, warm hands probably would have felt very good on some other parts of his body as well. But for now, he'd take them on his back. After probably a good twenty minutes Dean leaned back into her a little. "Thanks, that was really nice."

"Sure, and that you can ask me for anytime. So long as you're willing to do for me too." She leaned back on the pillows, smiling. Her hands would have slid off of Dean, but he leaned back with her.

"Yeah, it's the only action I've gotten lately, other than your sister kissing me today. That was weird, but I'm not really complaining." Dean smiled, and then looked at her, realizing he'd basically laid back on her, his head resting sort of on her upper chest and shoulder. "Sorry, am I hurting you? Your cuts and..."

"You're fine. They're okay." Nic smiled at him, "this is the only action I've gotten in a little while, so..." She laughed, the idea of having sex with him was a bit tempting. Dean was certainly attractive and seemed to exude this kind of raw sexual energy, but they were trying to work together and get to know each other. And she worried sex might get in the way of all that. So they were making do with what they could. Maybe she was resisting a little more firmly than he was, but she thought even he was holding back on the 'moves' a bit, and probably for the same reasons.

If Nic hadn't been pretty firm about not having sex, Dean knew he'd have had her on her back and naked already. But it perhaps was best not to mix too much pleasure with business, especially right in the middle of a case. Her hands had begun playing with his hair without her really knowing it. Dean liked what she was doing, it was relaxing, and it felt really good. Nic was wearing just her jeans and a bra, and Dean's hand slid up the leg of her pants, pulling her jeans up her leg, and then he brushed his fingers up and down on her bare calf. "So what is up with your sister? I mean, might not be a good idea for her to go around kissing random guys."

"Well, she doesn't kiss just anyone. But she apparently likes to kiss people sometimes. It's her solution to tense, awkward, or sexually charged situations when there's an attractive guy involved. And I can't really tell her not to do things like that, since I'm not really immune from such actions either." Nic sort of shrugged and ran her fingers along his jaw.

"Oh yeah?" Dean smiled and when Nic gave him a playful eye rolling look, he turned over. "I know, I know, we shouldn't mix business and pleasure. Just at times like this, when I'm too tired to think, and there's a pause in what we can do for the case, it's hard not to look at you and want a little something on the side, in the in between moments of working."

Nic smiled at him, "I do know what you mean." She put her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them lightly again. Dean closed his eyes a moment letting her try and release a little of his tension in the more innocent way. His hands slipped under her back and shoulders and his head dropped a little, resting his forehead actually on her breast. She just continued rubbing his shoulders, feeling his breath on her chest.


	13. Chapter 11

Downtown Caribou  
Tues, May 23, 2006, 8 pm

Sam, Alex, and Kris headed down the street toward a diner they noticed while working today. "I'd forgotten how horrible girls in high school could be. Less than a year and I'd already blocked it all out." Alex was feeling alright, but needing to kind of vent a little too with this job. Something about the whole thing bugged her.

"Yeah, I seem to recall some really mean kids in high school. I was never a total outcast, but I wasn't that popular either. And it seemed like unless you were on that top rung, you got picked on at least a little by someone." Sam commented a little from his own high school experience.

"I was mostly the same, Nic too from the sounds of it. But I'm only going on what she said about it. We did some sports, some of hers were outside of school though, like her dance and gymnastics were at special schools for dance and gymnastics, not the high school. The only school team she was on was volleyball for a couple years. Me I played soccer on and off all through my school years, swam in high school and played basketball in middle school. It was enough to get me a little respect from the nicer people, but only served to point me out to the truly mean and popular as a target. Because once people heard my name and knew it, they learned about my mom and dad, not the supernatural part, but that they were dead, and all that. Those who weren't so nice would call me weird, or freak, things like that." Alex walked close to Sam and actually took hold of his jacket sleeve, not unlike a child. Sam looked at her and smiled and she smiled back. "Kris, I think, blended better, never drew enough attention to bother too many. But she wasn't immune to the idiots either."

Kris kind of shrugged when Sam looked back at her. She was keeping up, but also keeping several steps behind Alex and Sam. She'd gotten picked on by her share of people, some of whom Alex knew about and had done what she could to defend Kris, and some she didn't. But Kris supposed it was just high school, and at least she didn't have to deal with it. She was hoping to go back for graduation in a few weeks, but other than that, she was done with it anyway.

Sam shifted and pulled Alex's hand from his jacket and slipped his hand into hers. If she wanted to hold onto something, he didn't mind a warm hand in his. He decided to change the subject a little too, "So what really made you decide to come on this trip with your sister?" He glanced over his shoulder at Kris, hoping she'd jump in too, the question was meant for both of them. He smiled a little at the same time, and let his other hand hang at his side. He wiggled his fingers a little when he smiled, trying to let Kris know she could come walk with them, and he'd take her hand too. She looked kind of lonely walking behind them.

Alex smiled softly, mostly to herself, when Sam took her hand. She seemed to take a few breaths before she answered. "Well, you know how I said Nic's a pain in my ass, but I don't know what I'd do without her. Well, when she said she was going, and I started to think about her not being around, I couldn't deal with it. For as much as I may have wanted anything else, I wanted most to stay with her. She's all we have left," Alex glanced at Kris, who was still behind them, "and I couldn't let her just walk away. Even if she had every intention of coming back. I love her more than anything." Alex's voice got very serious and soft. A couple tears had welled up and she was fighting them back. She didn't mind speaking for herself and Kris, since she knew her sister felt the same way. It was something the two of them had talked about when Nic had brought up taking off last year.

Sam looked at her, feeling bad for bringing up something that made her cry. He stopped their walking and wrapped his arms around Alex. "It's okay. I kind of get what you mean." Sam had tried walking away from Dean again a few weeks ago to chase after their dad. But he finally realized that Dean was really all he had, and he couldn't just walk away from him, again. "I actually almost walked away from Dean, but when I realized he was all I really had left, I couldn't, I came back."

Kris was kind of hugging herself, and had stepped close to the building, gently leaning against it. Alex nodded trying to quickly compose herself again and pulled back from Sam to resume walking. "Thanks. Somehow you guys just get it. But I guess it's cause you guys have lived it. It's lonely out here without anyone else to understand what this life is like."

Sam quickly moved back into step with Alex and caught hold of her hand again. "It is. That's why I'm really glad you girls decided to stick with us, or let us stick with you, or however it is."

"Yeah, I don't know who's with who, but we're all together. You and Dean are good company." Alex smiled at Sam. Kris had resumed walking, but wasn't rushing to catch up.

"Maybe we're with you girls. I'd expected some kind of resistance from Dean, but I think he was just as happy to stick with you as I was. Nic was the one who kind of had to say okay to it." Sam smiled at his logic as to who was along with who. It didn't matter, they were all together now. It wasn't that Nic, Kris, and Alex were along for the ride with Dean and Sam's mission. Nor were they tagging along with the Wakefield sisters' journey. They were all in it together, it was all of theirs journey.

Sam had managed to get a little laugh out of Alex. "Yeah," she shook her head, "I don't know why Nic has to be so difficult. I'm just glad I didn't really have to fight her over it."

Sam searched for something to say or ask that didn't seem like a sensitive subject. He wasn't sure if this would hit a nerve, but he tried, "you come off pretty tough on the surface, but you're really pretty..." Sam searched for the right word.

"Broken, weak, lost? Kind of. The tough looking shell is all to keep out the world. The less that can get in I figure the less I'll have to feel. I don't deal with too many feelings well. They never make sense." Alex glanced sadly at Sam and then looked down, "I know I'm probably a liability to Nic, she's stronger without me. Without having to worry about me. When people first meet us they always take her for the weak one, but if they pay enough attention, it becomes pretty clear that she's the strong one, and I'm the weak one." Alex was feeling weak at the moment, and actually wasn't thinking about Kris being behind them.

Kris, for her part, wasn't really listening, she was several feet behind them, and was in her own world. Though had she heard she'd have disagreed, she always felt like the weak one, the hanger on. That Nic and Alex drove it all.

"I wouldn't describe you as any of those things. You aren't weak, broken, or lost. This isn't an easy thing we do. It's hard to take sometimes, for all of us. There are days, when I think too hard about all this shit, and I just want to hide under my bed or something. But I think you do the same I do, you suck it up the best you can, knowing Nic and Kris are by your side, and do what you can to pull through. And now you've got Dean and I to lean on too. Dean may not do the touchy feely stuff, but he's a great hunter. He'll do anything to keep those around him safe." Sam gave her hand another squeeze and smiled at Alex. He glanced briefly over his shoulder to see Kris, she seemed to be lagging farther behind, but he felt like he needed to comfort one sister at a time. "You're sensitive, that's what I trying to say. And that's not a bad thing, sometimes I think this life makes people too hard, too cold. While you have a tough surface, you have a real sensitivity and warmth to you."

"Yeah, maybe." Alex nodded, relaxing a little bit, the hints of a smile returning to her eyes and lips. The stress of it was just kind of getting to her today for some reason, she wasn't really sure why.

"And if you need more than a protector, if you need someone to listen, someone you can vent your frustrations and insecurities to," he paused and she glanced at him. Sam smiled, nodded, and pointed at himself, "and I'll do my best to make you feel better, okay. You're not a liability. You're incredibly bright, and great at the research, which is a talent unto its self."

"Thanks Sam. And even though you probably don't need it, I'm more interested in people's feelings than I probably seem. Especially the people I care about. So if you ever need to vent, or whatever, I promise, I'm not too bad at the listening and trying to make people feel better." Alex said seriously, then smiled, "it's just a well hidden talent." Then she sort of half snickered, half giggled.

"She is." Kris finally spoke and nodded, she definitely thought Alex was a good listener to her. Her sister always had time to hear her problems and help her anyway she could.

"I believe you, and I think it's not such a hidden talent. I think you have your own unique ways of putting people at ease. And you don't offer an ear to just anyone. I probably need an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on more than I'd like to admit even, and certainly more than I actually have one. So don't be so sure I won't come to you sometimes needing a friendly ear." Sam looked gently at Alex as they walked and gave her hand a little squeeze. They approached the diner and Sam opened the door for Alex, only then letting go of her hand because Kris was lagging behind, and he wanted to hold the door for her too. He smiled at Kris when she stepped past him, and she smiled softly back at him.

"Then I guess I'm in good company." Alex smiled up at Sam, taking his hand again once they were all inside. They were shown to a table and Kris wondered if she should have stayed behind, feeling a little bit like a third wheel. Alex slid into the booth seat and looked at Sam. She didn't seem to want to let go of his hand.

Sam smiled and slid in next to her. "You don't mind sharing a side, do you?"

"Not at all." Alex finally let go of his hand to pick up her menu. She did feel safer when one of the guys were around. She wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was just the old idea of having a strong guy around, but whatever it was, she liked it. "What do you think you want to eat?"

Kris sat down across from them and got a smile from both of them, to which she did her best to smile. Picking up a menu then and busying herself with looking it over, as her stomach reminded her why she'd come along.

"I'm thinking about a nice burger and fries, actually." Sam was glancing at the menu, thinking that sounded really good. "What about you?"

"That sounds pretty good to me too. And a milkshake." Alex had a love of milkshakes. She set her menu down having made up her mind.


End file.
